Where do we go from here?
I just went to the movies to catch a quite impressive French half-musical, if you can call it that, with my two Mauritian classmates, Vic and Ash. The movie was about this middle-aged, male new teacher who was placed in a class of unruly students, and how he got them to share with him in his passion for music, and eventually he turned the whole class of naughty boys into a very good choir. The movie's name? Les Choristes, or in English, The Chorus. Funny, I should think that it should be named The Choir.
So after the movie, Vic and I were discussing about the disappointing Champions League game of the night before. To my surprise, he wasn't really pessimistic about anything today, but in fact offered some encouraging views. But as you would have expected, any "reviews" of any event at all will always contain the phrase "if only".
So Vic started with an "if only". If only Roy Carroll hadn't let in that first Milan goal at Old Trafford, things could actually be very different. The reason would be because at the San Siro, as a consequence of Carroll's mistake, United were forced to adopt a special strategy, as they were in desperate need of a goal. They were compelled to go on the attack as often as possible and as a result, might not have been able to settle into their natural rhythm. Good point, because while not exactly threatening Dida before Carroll's error, I'd say United were in the tie as much as Milan were. If it had been 0-0 in Manchester, United would then be able to play more to their strengths, and might not have been so nervous or hurried in their attack in Milan.
"If only" Ruud van Nistelrooy hadn't suffered such a serious injury, no one would've bet on Dida not needing to pick the ball out of his net at least once over the two legs.
But that was that. So where does this leave us? The FA Cup now seems to be our only realistic chance of a trophy this season, and it seems like last season is repeating itself, though my brother would disagree with that, as he thinks there is still chance for us to win the Premiership if we win all our remaining fixtures. But let's set our sights further here. What have the young players like Ronaldo and Rooney learn on this defeat by Milan? What have we, the fans, learned? More importantly, what have Sir Alex learned? Vic agreed with Sir Alex that this United team are technically better than the '99 side (emphasis on "technically"), and that the only weakness in this team is in the goalkeeping department. But then again, the most glaring irony of football is that, most of the time, the worst player on the pitch is always the one stuck between the posts, but people always forget that he is indeed the most important player of the team. If you don't have a good keeper, you can forget about winning anything at all.
If history does repeat itself, I see United winning the European Cup again in 2-3 years. But the ship must not be rocked. The team must first get a goalkeeper they can trust (either by Tim Howard or Carroll suddenly improving to Peter Schmeichel's level or by buying another keeper), they must remain united, they must not let any Malcolm Glazer nonsense affect their performance on the pitch, Wayne Rooney must check his temper, and Cristiano Ronaldo must realise football is also about using your brains as well your feet. Oh yeah, and if we got a chance at all, we can either nab Steven Gerrard or Rino Gattuso.Or both.
So after the movie, Vic and I were discussing about the disappointing Champions League game of the night before. To my surprise, he wasn't really pessimistic about anything today, but in fact offered some encouraging views. But as you would have expected, any "reviews" of any event at all will always contain the phrase "if only".
So Vic started with an "if only". If only Roy Carroll hadn't let in that first Milan goal at Old Trafford, things could actually be very different. The reason would be because at the San Siro, as a consequence of Carroll's mistake, United were forced to adopt a special strategy, as they were in desperate need of a goal. They were compelled to go on the attack as often as possible and as a result, might not have been able to settle into their natural rhythm. Good point, because while not exactly threatening Dida before Carroll's error, I'd say United were in the tie as much as Milan were. If it had been 0-0 in Manchester, United would then be able to play more to their strengths, and might not have been so nervous or hurried in their attack in Milan.
"If only" Ruud van Nistelrooy hadn't suffered such a serious injury, no one would've bet on Dida not needing to pick the ball out of his net at least once over the two legs.
But that was that. So where does this leave us? The FA Cup now seems to be our only realistic chance of a trophy this season, and it seems like last season is repeating itself, though my brother would disagree with that, as he thinks there is still chance for us to win the Premiership if we win all our remaining fixtures. But let's set our sights further here. What have the young players like Ronaldo and Rooney learn on this defeat by Milan? What have we, the fans, learned? More importantly, what have Sir Alex learned? Vic agreed with Sir Alex that this United team are technically better than the '99 side (emphasis on "technically"), and that the only weakness in this team is in the goalkeeping department. But then again, the most glaring irony of football is that, most of the time, the worst player on the pitch is always the one stuck between the posts, but people always forget that he is indeed the most important player of the team. If you don't have a good keeper, you can forget about winning anything at all.
If history does repeat itself, I see United winning the European Cup again in 2-3 years. But the ship must not be rocked. The team must first get a goalkeeper they can trust (either by Tim Howard or Carroll suddenly improving to Peter Schmeichel's level or by buying another keeper), they must remain united, they must not let any Malcolm Glazer nonsense affect their performance on the pitch, Wayne Rooney must check his temper, and Cristiano Ronaldo must realise football is also about using your brains as well your feet. Oh yeah, and if we got a chance at all, we can either nab Steven Gerrard or Rino Gattuso.Or both.
posted by Keith at 4:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home